If I found it hard to cover the whole sensor with my fingertip on the Samsung Galaxy S8, the taller Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus is tougher still. I needed to angle my hand or arm in weird methods, and it’s simple to smear the camera — the software even warns you to be careful of the lens. Sometimes I received the S8 Plus unlocked on the first try. Different times I had to hold stabbing the place I thought the sensor was, to get into the phone.

When this occurs a couple of times, no massive deal. When it sometimes occurs a day, for multiple days on end, it becomes irritating and even a little obnoxious. Especially since there are so many quick, accurate fingerprint readers on the market on other phones.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus Review – Design

Last year’s Galaxy S7 Edge was simply one of the best-looking phones in the world – and yet it might as well be wearing bellbottoms and winkle pickers next to the S8+. This superb combination of metal and glass feels every bit the premium phone. Samsung has done more than refining the design: it has stripped away the bezels and buttons to give room for an eye-catching screen that almost fully fills the front of the phone.

The entire thing is IP68 water-resistant, to survive any accidental dunkings, and there’s room at the bottom for a speaker, reversible USB-C charging port, and a headphone jack. Sorry Apple, Samsung isn’t in your cable-free future just yet.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus Review – Display

At 6.2in, the S8+ sounds huge – however, those ultra-slim top and bottom bezels, subtle curves that spill over the edges of the phone, and 18.5:9 aspect ratio mean you’re getting that extra screen real estate without it changing into a true pocket buster.

There’s a large resolution to match the large screen, of course: 2960×1440. You’d have to pick up Sony’s 4K Xperia ZX Premium to get a phone with more pixels.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus Review – Software

Samsung finally began listening to buyer suggestions on its divisive Android UI last year, and Touchwiz on the Galaxy S8 Plus is even more pared down and unobtrusive.

It’s still there, of course, operating over the top of Android 7.0 Nougat, however now you aren’t forced to observe the Samsung way of thinking. That features swapping the Back and Recent keys and removing the app drawer for iPhone-style multiple home screens.

There are nevertheless a few pre-installed Samsung apps. However, they’re hidden away in their folder, and you can always take away them to free up space on the phone for apps you will wish to use.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus Review – Hardware and Performance

If the Galaxy S8+ were a car, it would have a fire-breathing, thousand-horsepower W16 engine under the hood – it’s that quick.

Samsung’s home-grown, octa-core Exynos CPU offers that grant, with four low-power cores operating at 1.7GHz and four high-power ones clocked at 2.2GHz. It’s, hands-down, faster than any other Android phone out there right now – a Geekbench, 4 multi-core scores of 6683, proves as much. That’s faster than Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus, too.

In the real world, it means you never wait for apps to open, never experience any lag or stutter when swiping via Android’s menus, and never spot any frame-rate dips in games. This thing flies.

That should be true when it comes to 4G and Wi-Fi speeds, too. The Galaxy S8+ is prepared for Gigabit LTE and has 802.11ac Wi-Fi the quickest possible speeds on compatible routers.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus Review – Camera

Not much has modified from last year, either – at least on paper. The 12MP sensor has the identical pixel count, identical f/1.7 aperture, identical optical picture stabilization and identical dual-pixel autofocus as the Galaxy S7.

Up front, the selfie cam has been upgraded to an 8MP sensor, complete with f/1.7 aperture and fast autofocus that automatically hunts for faces and pulls them into focus.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus Review – Battery Life

The 3500mAh battery appears just like the weak link, at least on paper: it’s smaller than the S7 Edge’s 3600mAh juice pack and feels a bit like Samsung is playing it safe so quickly after the Galaxy Note 7.

With a more power-frugal 10nm CPU, though, the S8+ can still deliver when it comes to battery life. It managed over 12 hours of streaming video playback, and simply lasted a full day of heavy use – together with wi-fi music streaming to a pair of Bluetooth headphones, snapping pictures and far too much time spent scrolling via Facebook.

Gallery

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus is a refined design. The stripped-back bezels, front-filling screen, and curved sides make it arguably the best-looking phone you’ll be able to buy, and it has the internal to keep it competitive.

A camera that trades blows with the most effective Apple has to offer, a nice screen, and sufficient power for any game or app you’d care to throw at it means this is one seriously impressive handset.

It’s not good; the sound could be better, however, in almost all other respects, it’s as good as Android gets right now.